The Peabody Awards

Awards

In the spring of 2001, three documentarians (Jules and Gedeon Naudet, with James Hanlon) began a project following a New York City rookie firefighter’s rite of passage. On September 11, they ended up inside hell. With the men of Engine 7, Ladder 1, they bore witness to history and to extraordinary courage in the face of catastrophe. Their work became the heart of the CBS broadcast 9/11, containing the only known pictures of the first plane hitting the... read more

Set in London’s elegant Claridge’s hotel, Almost Strangers follows the peculiar and mysterious Symon family’s three-day reunion. Like most such events, this one stretches and strains the very definition of “family.” Though all here are relatives, most are indeed “almost strangers” to one another, linked by blood, but in many cases, very little else. A tale of disturbing secrets unfolds as the tangled roots of the Symon family tree unravel. Raymond, played by Michael Gambon, his wife Esther... read more

Monkey Trial follows one of the most famous legal battles of the 20th century, the trial of John Scopes for violating a Tennessee law forbidding the teaching of evolution in public schools. But the account presented here sheds new light on this well-known event, rewriting popular history and biography in the process. The trial was the first to be widely covered by mass media (radio), and the Scopes Trial might actually be termed a media circus: 150 reporters... read more

Bang Bang You’re Dead, written by William Mastrosimone, is based on Mastrosimone’s play of the same title, written in reaction to threats of violence—from students, toward students—at his son’s school. He placed the script on the Internet, free for high schools to produce. The play has no set, it’s short enough to fit into a 45-minute school period, and uses few props, yet it conveys a clear, strong message that school violence must be taken seriously. Thousands of... read more

Boomtown holds a mirror up to the complexities of 21st century society, where common concerns are rarely experienced in black and white. As is most often the case, life is experienced in far more subtle shades of gray. This series goes to street-level Los Angeles and offers stories seen from the diverse perspectives of the city’s unsung and imperfect heroes—the cops and paramedics, the lawyers and beat reporters, members of the D.A.‘s office and city officials. Their stories... read more

Week after week Boston Public explores the personal and professional lives of teachers, administrators, and students who work and study at an urban high school in Boston. Following controversial and topical storylines—sometimes dramatic, sometimes comedic—the series explores problems and issues faced by teachers who try to make a difference in the lives of their students, and by students who struggle to come of age in a very complicated world. “Chapter Thirty-Seven,” the most controversial episode in the 2002... read more

On October 5, 2000, the final dramatic hours of the Serb struggle against Slobodan Milosevic captured headlines and cover stories around the world. But the defeat of the “Butcher of the Balkans” was incorrectly billed as a one-day revolution. What the global media failed to recognize was the year-long anti-Milosevic campaign waged by Serbian resistance in partnership with pro-democracy and human rights groups. Using exclusive footage and conversations with the principal participants,Bringing Down a Dictator, hosted and narrated... read more

In a case of rape at Fort Hood army base in Texas, military criminal investigators inform the victim, an enlisted woman, that they have all the evidence, including DNA evidence, they need to secure a conviction, but they will not be using that evidence because of a Pentagon policy. Although DNA samples for every soldier in the U.S. military are on file, the policy prohibits the samples from being used in solving crimes, even those committed by soldiers... read more

Door to Door chronicles the life of Bill Porter. Stricken with cerebral palsy as the result of an accident at his birth, Porter went on to become a successful door-to-door salesman with the Watkins Company. But this film is much more than the story of one man’s life, one man’s struggle to overcome adversity. Rather, it is a story of how that one man’s life and work, his commitment and compassion, his wit and his stamina intertwined in... read more

EGG the arts show is smart, entertaining, unpretentious—and not infrequently—funny. It treats art playfully without dumbing it down. One installment, focused on uses of water in the arts, examines the work of underwater photographer Connie Imboden, visits an ice carving competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics and offers spectacular footage by photographers Leroy Grannis and Scott Aichner who “get inside” huge waves with daring surfers. Another program, “Gimme Shelter,” looks at the work of architect Samuel Mockbee, who... read more

Almost A Woman, based on a memoir by Esmerelda Santiago, is the fifth production for ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre’s American Collection, a series of adaptations of significant works of American literature. This story is a familiar one, central to American experience. A mother, Mami (Wanda De Jesus), seeking a better life for her children, moves them from their home to a new place—in this account, from Puerto Rico to New York. But like all such migrations this one is... read more

In Othello, screenwriter Andrew Davies (Middlemarch, House of Cards) updates one of the greatest Shakespearean tragedies, presenting it in contemporary form as the story of the first black Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police Force. This London Weekend Television/WGBH coproduction, in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, affords Davies one of his favorite topics: “I always do like to write love stories,” he says, “even if they end tragically.” In this instance he proves that envy, lust, pride,... read more

From January through September 2002, this investigative series revealed that confidential informants working with Dallas police planted powdered Sheetrock or billiard chalk near unsuspecting Mexican immigrants to contrive drug cases. Reporter Brett Shipp and Producer Mark Smith found that nearly half the Dallas Police Department’s alleged cocaine seizures in 2001 contained little or no illegal drugs. The broadcasts helped spur an on-going federal investigation, confessions by three informants, and dismissals of 80 drug charges against more than 50... read more

Broadcast on the day the British Parliament discussed Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, this investigation revealed how other “rogue” nations, including Iran, had illicitly procured sensitive equipment from British companies for use in their nuclear arms programs. Based on detailed, original research conducted by Reporter Allan Urry, in both Britain and the United States, the program highlighted serious weaknesses in the United Kingdom’s system of controls over the export of so-called “dual-use” material. Because of the sensitive nature... read more

In the summer of 2000, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were on the brink of reaching a peace agreement. After years of negotiation, both sides seemed ready to move forward—never before had the dream of peace seemed so close. Within weeks, however, the window of opportunity had closed and the peace process had collapsed. As the Middle East continues to erupt in violence, FRONTLINE examines the faltering, frustrating quest for harmony in Shattered Dreams of Peace. Beginning with the... read more

On the day his son is born, filmmaker Tang Shiang-Chu learns that his father has suffered a stroke. As the older man begins his recovery, delighting in the growth of his grandchild, the family decides to travel from Taiwan to the ancestral home in China, and to record this journey on film. The resulting narrative offers visual beauty exquisitely matched by emotional riches. The family’s expedition becomes a metaphor for the far greater questions surrounding the 50-year history... read more

The fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo is rooted in the genocide of Rwanda. This war, sometimes referred to as the first African world war, has involved as many as seven nations since 1998, and claimed more than two-and-a-half million lives. It has been an unrelenting war, brutal and countrywide, with rebel groups and the government fighting for power as well as control of Congo’s immense natural resources. This story of murder, greed, violence, and the quest... read more

On September 11, 2001 Louise Kurtz, 49, began her second day as an accountant at the Pentagon. She was standing by the office fax machine when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into her world. Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell, 40, was walking down a hallway when he thought he heard a bomb explode. Louise and Brian were two of the ten severely burned victims of the attack taken to the Washington Hospital Center, the premier burn unit in the... read more

Poetry on television. Poetry spoken and performed, not read from the page. Poetry that draws a live audience into the intricacies of language, the humor of a varied inflection, the elegance of a sentence structure. It’s all there in the Home Box Office series, Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. Based on the nationally touring stage production, Def Poetry Jam, in which poets trade verse before live audiences, Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry is hosted by musician-rapper and actor... read more

Every episode in the life of the Fisher family begins with death. How else would stories set in Fisher & Sons Funeral Home begin? Created by producer/writer Alan Ball, the strange yet strangely familiar world of the Fishers and their assortment of friends and companions, lovers and clients, deals with the most fundamental human experiences. The face the celebration of life and the loss of life, the joy of love and the pain of love, the struggle for... read more

Working closely with Milwaukee’s North Shore Fire Department, WISN Reporters Tammy Elliott and Kent Wainscott made a startling discovery: Many young children simply will not be wakened by the sound of shrieking smoke detectors, even in their own bedrooms. Going into the rooms of sleeping children with cameras at night, taping as fire fighters used foggers to simulate smoke-filled rooms and set off the alarms, the WISN reporters recorded the behaviors of children from every angle. The reporters... read more

Samuel Beckett is acknowledged as one of the most important and visionary writers of the 20th century. His stark depictions of human isolation captured the spirit of a rapidly changing, chaotic world. In Beckett on Film, from Thirteen/WNET New York’s acclaimed Stage on Screen series, seven of the Nobel Prize-winning writer’s short plays are presented in a star-studded showcase of filmed versions. The works in the program were created for this series, and are far more than filmed... read more

Some say home is where the heart is—a sanctuary where we turn to renew relationships with ourselves and our families. There we can truly be ourselves and define who we will become. In this eloquent series Executive Producer Julia McEvoy has captured a range of stories defining rich meanings of “home.” Aired in the Spring of 2002 as part of Chicago Matters: Inside Housing, this program from McEvoy, Writer/Producer Alex Kotlowitz and Producer Amy Dorn, offers a window... read more

It is one thing to imagine the processes of planning for terrorist tactics. It is quite another to see the process. In Terror on Tape, CNN Reporter Nic Robertson presents and analyzes videotapes made inside the Al Qaeda organization for purposes of instruction, for announcing operations, or to record meetings directed by Osama Bin Laden. Recovered by Robertson, who relied on sources developed through years of reporting from Afghanistan, these training tapes show a range of frightening activities.... read more

When Yale student James Prosek convinced the university to permit him to write a senior essay on Izaak Walton, author of the 17th Century classic, The Complete Angler (The Compleat Angler), he had not yet read Walton’s book. When he did he found it as much about a philosophy of life as about fishing. Prosek’s “research,” which took him to Ireland and England to fish the same rivers and streams as had Walton, is captured in this very... read more

By the mid-1930s, 60-year-old Winston Churchill (Albert Finney)is all but irrelevant to British politics. His family fortune has been wrecked by the stock market crash. His estate is a never-ending string of expenses. His dear wife, Clemmie (Vanessa Redgrave), is deeply frustrated by Churchill’s private confusion. The man himself is beset with depression, the “black dog” that hounds him in such periods. Still, from his beloved country home, Chartwell, he looks hard at the political circumstances defining Europe.... read more

Hepatitis C is a devastating, often fatal illness that can cause both cirrhosis and liver cancer. This in-depth probe by Fuji Television Network’s investigative team brought to light a disturbing link between Hepatitis C, contaminated drugs, an unethical pharmaceutical company, and governmental indifference. During the 1970s, the anti-clotting agent Fibrinogen, made from human blood plasma, lost its FDA certification in the U.S. because the purity of the plasma could not be guaranteed. In Japan, however, Fibrinogen was still... read more

Based on a true story, The Interrogation of Michael Crowe follows the ordeal of the Crowe family, whose 14-year-old son, Michael, played here so poignantly by Mark Rendall, is forced to endure an excruciating police interrogation into the 1998 murder of his 12-year-old sister, Stephanie. Michael repeatedly denies any involvement in this terrible event, despite hours of grueling interrogation without a lawyer or his parents (Ally Sheedy as Cheryl and Michael Riley as Stephen Crowe) present. Ultimately, however,... read more

This unprecedented four-part series explores segregation from the end of the Civil War to the dawn of the modern Civil Rights movement. It recounts the brave and inspiring achievements of African Americans who fought against a system of brutality known as “Jim Crow.” Within this system, Southern blacks endured a life of crushing subordination maintained by white supremacist social and cultural custom and written into laws securing and perpetuating a grinding pattern of inequality. Nevertheless, large numbers of... read more

The Sonic Memorial Project, executive produced by the Kitchen Sisters, Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva, is an intimate and historic documentary radio series commemorating the life and history of the World Trade Center and its neighborhood through rare recordings, voicemail messages, personal stories, and oral histories. The project, produced by Silva, Nelson, Jay Allison, Jamie York, Joe Richman, Ben Shapiro, Laura Folger, and Jim McKee, is a unique national collaboration involving Lost & Found Sound, NPR News, WNYC,... read more

The culmination of nearly two decades of research, preservation, and production, this historic series was saluted in newspapers and magazines across the country. Just as significantly, it was hailed by thousands of listeners and noted for breaking new artistic ground in radio production while preserving and celebrating a lost and poignant moment in history. Produced by MacArthur Fellow Dave Isay, ethnomusicologist Henry Sapoznik, and Yair Reiner, the series was broadcast over ten consecutive Tuesdays on NPR’s All Things... read more